Desperate Measures
by Angelina Johnson
Summary: (Hogwarts AU, Fake Dating AU) Robb Stark has always worn his heart on his sleeve. But during his sixth year at Hogwarts, he finds that being so open about his feelings for Daenerys Targaryen may or may not be stopping his cousin Jon from a shot at true happiness - so Robb enlists the help of his new potions partner, Margaery Tyrell, to set things right.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Thanks for taking a chance and reading this fic. Before we get started here, I figured I'd go ahead and outline where things are at, just in case I didn't make it super obvious during the course of the first chapter:

\+ All the (mentioned) Stark children are in Gryffindor. I'll decide what house Bran's in when/if he becomes relevant, and Rickon's not Hogwarts age yet in this fic.  
\+ Robb and Jon are sixth years, Sansa is a fifth year, and Arya is a third year.  
\+ Daenerys, Margaery, and Theon are all Slytherin sixth years.  
\+ Oberyn is their potions professor because why not?

I'd also like to say a quick thanks to targaryenstyrell on Tumblr, who helped me talk through my ideas for this fic enough for it to actually become a reality (and for loving Theonsa so much that they snuck into this fic, even when I hadn't originally intended for them to be a side-ship in it).

* * *

"Daenerys Targaryen!"

Professor Martell's voice snaps Robb to attention. It's the first day of their NEWT level Potions class, and as soon as he'd discovered they were doubled with Slytherin, he'd been looking forward to an extra chance to be around their beautiful Quidditch captain every week.

Robb had _always _noticed her, of course. Daenerys was fierce; she was the kind of girl where you just _felt _her presence the second that she walked into a room. And sure, lots of other people noticed, too—it's why Robb hardly ever seemed to get a word in edgewise around her. This year would be different, though. Over the summer, he'd been named Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, he'd gone on a few dates with a girl named Roslin Frey while he'd been on vacation and had gotten his confidence up, and he was ready to sail into sixth year with a brand new attitude.

His eyes darted between Daenerys, waiting expectantly to hear who she'd be partnered up with for the rest of the term, and Professor Martell, who always seemed to have a glint of mischief in his eyes. It was why he was one of Robb's favorite professors; he seemed just as likely to have a good laugh with his students as to punish them, and it was certainly a step up from their other teachers.

"You'll be working with…"

_Robb Stark, Robb Stark _, Robb willed silently. Perhaps if he _thought _it hard enough, it would come into existence, as if Professor Martell was a Legilimens using his powers to see into his students eyes and matchmake them with the girls of their dreams.

It was an insane thought, but right up until Professor Martell opened his mouth again, Robb really thought that it was going to work. That he'd get to spend the whole term with Daenerys Targaryen, talking with her, laughing with her, impressing her with his as-of-yet-lacking-Potions skills (he'd work on them just for her sake, though, until they had the best grade in the whole class).

"Jon Snow," Professor Martell finished, and Robb sank into his chair as his dreams came crashing down.

* * *

Theon, who'd been sitting next to Robb, had a good laugh at his expense, watching Robb make pleading eyes in Jon's direction. As if his brooding cousin would ignore their professor's wishes just to let Robb take his place besides Dany instead.

Jon just brushed Robb off while Theon shook with silent laughter, and Robb leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table, waiting to see who he'd get paired up with.

Maybe he should focus his energies on wishing for Theon as a partner instead. He was cross with him for taking pleasure in his pain, Theon _was _one of his best mates, and one of the few Slytherins he got on with. His grade wouldn't be as good as if he was bending over backwards to wow Daenerys, but he'd have fun, at least, and there were worse fates in the world.

Much, _much _worse fates. Like being paired with someone prissy and fake and who didn't seem like they knew how to have any fun, like Margaery Tyrell. Robb hadn't talked to her much because she'd always been mixed up in the wrong crowds: hanging out with loathsome Joffrey Baratheon, or amongst a gaggle of girls who were always too busy giggling at the sight of him and Jon to have a decent conversation with.

Maybe Professor Martell _was _a Legilimens, because as soon as Robb thought about how miserable that would be, the instructor turned to him with a mirthful smile and announced, "Mr. Stark, you'll be working with Miss Tyrell."

_Bloody hell _. So much for double potions with Slytherin being a _good _thing.

* * *

Margaery Tyrell is beautiful, Robb will give her that. When Robb grudgingly carries his books over to her table and plops down in the seat next to her, he notices the way her perfectly curled hair frames her smiling face, and the way her pretty eyes are alight with… something. She's probably just delighted that she can brag to her friends she got paired with the Gryffindor Quidditch captain later—she's always seemed like someone who cares about status, and Robb has enough of it to be a worthy partner in her eyes, he supposes.

Idly, he thinks that she also smells nice. He'd never been up close and personal with her, but he'd expected her to smell sickly-sweet and overwhelming. Instead, there's just a subtle hint of something floral, more outdoorsy than he would have pictured for her. He thinks he likes it, maybe.

But that doesn't mean he likes _her _.

"All right, let's get on with it," Robb says crossly, casting a glance towards Jon and Daenerys. His cousin's head is ducked over his book, mostly ignoring his partner, and he wants to grumble about how unfair it is. _He'd _never ignore Daenerys Targaryen; if Robb were with her instead, he'd be attentive, and trying to make her laugh as he got potions ingredients off of the shelves in the back of the class, and he'd at least _look _at her instead of burying his face to read whatever recipe they're working on today.

What recipe _are _they working on today, anyway? He'd missed that announcement during his sulking, and for a second Robb thinks that he'll go over and ask Jon, as an excuse to say hi to Dany in the process. When did he get it _this _bad for the girl? He supposes maybe it got worse over the summer, when he'd gone out with Roslin and found himself bored by how meek she was.

Daenerys Targaryen has never seemed meek. She's seemed like a girl who can keep Robb on his toes, and that only makes her all the more interesting to the boy who's admired her from afar for ages now.

"Trying to abandon me so soon?" Margaery Tyrell asks him as he presses his hands down on his chair, like he's about to rise from it. Robb he thinks there's a teasing lilt to her voice, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Robb just mutters something unintelligible back and is surprised to find that his sour mood is met with a tinkering _laugh _from Margaery Tyrell. "Don't worry, if I'm really such miserable company, I'll let _you _take our draught of living death when we're done with it. Then you can sleep through the rest of the year and when you wake up, perhaps she'll be your partner instead."

Now he _knows _Margaery Tyrell is teasing him, but Robb is too floored by her other words to focus on the playfulness of her tone. "I don't know what you're talking about," he declares, even as his gaze shifts back to Jon and Dany. They're actually talking now, and Jon's not smiling, because when is Jon _ever _smiling - but Daenerys is, and the sight of it is blinding.

Robb can try to convince Margaery Tyrell she doesn't know what she's talking about all he wants, but her gaze is fixed on him as his jaw goes slack and he gets that dazed look in his eyes that only comes from being around someone who's as much of a badass _and _a babe at the same time as Daenerys Targaryen.

"You're not the first boy I've seen infatuated with her, you know. It's nothing to be ashamed of," Margaery titters on, and it's annoying, the way she's reading him like a book. It's not unusual, though; Robb Stark has _always _worn his heart on his sleeve, and it's never even really seemed like a bad thing to him before.

"Oh, what do you know?" Robb says darkly as he flips open his potions book. _Draught of Living Death _, Margaery had said, so he finds the right page, scribbles down what ingredients to pick up off the shelves, and tells his new partner that he'll go grab them while she reads through the instructions.

By the time he comes back, Robb's mood is no better, and they work in a tense silence of Robb's design for the rest of the period.

* * *

Robb sits by the fire in the Gryffindor common room that night with Jon and Sansa and Arya, working on homework and talking about how their first week of class is going. Sansa's glowing about how her professor told her she's sure to ace her Transfiguration OWL at the end of the year, and Arya's saying her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor told her about something in the Forbidden Forest that she wants to go searching for. Jon doesn't talk much, preferring to listen to his siblings, and usually he just wears a mostly blank stare that barely masks his amusement at them.

When Robb groans about potions, though, and how annoying Margaery Tyrell is and how Jon got paired with Daenerys and doesn't even _appreciate _how brilliantly lucky he is, Jon's detached mask.

"She's a good partner," his cousin protests, and Robb narrows his eyes.

"_ Good _partner? She's the _best _partner in the whole bloody universe, and you barely talked to her!" Robb whines, and Arya tells him he's gross, for caring so much about a girl. Jon tells him that he's being dramatic, and that he talked to his own partner _plenty _.

Sansa's the one who seems the most appalled, though. "Did you just stare at Jon and Daenerys the whole time instead of talking to your own partner? Robb, that's _rude _," she says in a voice that reminds him so much of their mother he's almost ashamed.

"What am I supposed to talk to a girl like that about _anyway _?" Robb asks as a last line of defense, but it's too late. Sansa has gotten under his skin, has made him slightly ashamed of taking out his disappointment on Margaery Tyrell, and next week he vows to try a _little _harder to be nice to her.

Only a little, though. She still seems like she's a stuffy social climber as far as Robb's concerned, but that doesn't mean he can forget his manners.

* * *

Robb and Jon walk to class together, and Robb _doesn't _complain about their partner situation on the way there. Instead, he rambles about plans he has for Quidditch try-outs, and whether or not they could plant a dung bomb in Theon's bag during class, and about whether or not Sansa's got a crush on her Transfiguration professor.

Robb's proud of himself, for trying to make the best of this whole potions partner thing. Last week he'd been miserable, but he'd been worse company for Margaery than she'd been for him, and they'd done well on their potion. Time to just make the most of it.

It was easy to forget for a second, though, his resolve to be happy about things, when they strode into the room and Daenerys was already there, one of the first people in the classroom, and she smiled brightly at the sight of Jon. He gave Robb a half-wave and went instantly to join his partner, not even leaving Robb an opening to walk over with him and 'finish their conversation' as an excuse to say hi.

That's just how Jon is, though. Robb's the talkative one of the two of them; Jon just quietly goes about things, and if those things include slipping into the desk beside his partner and offering her a smile in return as a greeting, well then… that's his business.

Still, Robb's body language is slightly dejected when Margaery arrives, giggling with a couple of her classmates and chatting with them beside the desk before she finally says goodbye and joins Robb.

"Hi," he says, half-hearted but not unkindly. He may have spent the last two minutes agitated as Theon threw tiny balls of parchment at his hair from two desks back, and Jon and Dany chatted as if there was no one else in the room, but he's still much more polite to Margaery than he was last week. The gesture doesn't go unnoticed.

Margaery arches an eyebrow at him, and asks, "Oh, you've decided I don't bite, have you?" She smirks at him, and while a part of Robb wants to roll his eyes, the other part is starting to think he misjudged her. He thought girls like Margaery were all simpering and false compliments, but she seems intent on teasing him, and it's better than he imagined.

And, he notes, as she flips her hair over her shoulder and gets situated in her seat, that same floral scent from last week wafts his direction. She _smells _better than Theon, who had been his original second choice for a partner, so at least there's that.

"I never thought you were going to _bite _me. Poison me, maybe," he corrects her, gesturing to the cauldron in front of them. "You did threaten to put me into a year-long sleep last week, after all."

Margaery smiles. Maybe she's pleased that he remembers what she said, or maybe she actually thinks he's funny. Either way, the smiling at him bit's not so awful, either.

"_ Never _. I'm a civilized woman, I'd have hit you with a bat bogey hex if you'd really vexed me instead," Margaery informs him, keeping a straight face except for her eyes, which betray her amusement.

He wants to ask if she's ever _actually _cast that curse on someone, but Professor Martell calls the class to order, and the question's forgotten.

* * *

Maybe Margaery's not as bad as he thought. As a few more classes come and go, he finds himself almost enjoying being around her, although she still _can _be annoying sometimes.

Like when she reads him like he's an open book. He _is _, Robb knows he is, but the teasing every time he glances towards Daenerys and Jon is no fun. His crush on Daenerys is just a thing that's just kind of been there for a while, and his friends and family tease him for it occasionally, but not nearly with the regularity that Margaery does. She makes it a point to call him on it every time they're in class together, and Robb starts to wonder if he should ask Sansa about it. She understands girl world better; maybe she'd know if there's some kind of weird, unspoken contest between the two Slytherins that makes Margaery feel the need to fixate on his attention to Dany the way she does.

Not that there's much to fixate _on _. After Robb had gotten over his initial misery at Jon getting paired with her instead of him, he'd decided maybe it was the same as getting paired with Margaery—if he just looked at it a different way, it might be kind of okay. He'd just walk with Jon to class, stop by his desk when he went to sit with his beautiful and weirdly punctual partner, and then get a few words in edgewise with Daenerys before he took his own seat.

Except it hadn't worked out that way; Jon was even quieter than usual and didn't really give Robb much in the way of continuing a conversation, and half the time he was so distracted that he had to run back to the Gryffindor common room to grab something and urged Robb to go on to class without him.

Truth be told, using Jon as an in to talk to Daenerys more had been pretty useless. Robb got more facetime with her when he went to chat with Theon at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, and that was still far from enough.

By October, his cousin's lack of wingmanning skill was starting to bother Robb, so much so that he nearly lost his mind and complained to _Margaery _about it one day in potions. Before he even opens his mouth, though, Margaery is cocking her head to the side, a _very _curious look in her doe-eyes. Robb follows her gaze to his cousin, laughing uproariously with Daenerys, and he scrunches his nose up in confusion. Jon hardly _ever _laughs like that, even around Arya, who's always been his favorite.

He knows that Margaery's about to say something mocking, but even having braced himself for it, what she says next still floors him.

"Are you going to become the handsome brooding one now that your cousin's gotten the girl?" she inquires. Her tone isn't unkind - she might have even thrown in the word handsome deliberately, to soften the blow. Still, though, it feels almost like a punch to the gut, and Robb hisses, "What are you _talking _about?"

Before Margaery can answer, though, Professor Martell starts writing their potion of the day up on the board, and Robb's left to wonder at her words for the entire rest of the class period.

* * *

Every time Robb tries to ask during the class period, Margaery taps on her potions book and reminds him that they're meant to be _working _. It's driving Robb _mad _, though. He wants to know what this sometimes insufferable girl _thinks _she knows, because as far as Robb's concerned, it's nothing.

So Dany made Jon laugh—so what? His cousin's intense, but he's not some soulless being that can't find a lick of humor in the world. It doesn't mean that they're… whatever it is that Margaery's trying to imply that they are.

But each time Margaery shoots Robb's questions down, his gaze shifts towards Jon and Daenerys. They're maybe sitting closer together than is strictly necessary, their hands nearly touching as they pour over the recipe of the day, the hint of a smile always ghosting over Jon's face as he talks to her.

It's there, right there in front of Robb's eyes, but he doesn't want to see it. He _won't _believe it, he won't. There's no way that Jon Snow _finally _is interested in a girl, and it's the same one Robb's been mooning after for at least a year now. _No _way.

Still, as soon as class ends and Margaery is whisked away by her normal squad of Slytherin girls, Robb doesn't just watch her go. He chases after her, jogging lightly down the hallway—_ how fast do girls _walk _, Merlin!— _until he catches up to her. Robb reaches a hand out to wrap around her wrist, tugging her away from the group and down a quieter hallway and dropping his grip on her once he's got her attention.

"What did you mean, am I going to be the brooding one now that Jon's got the girl?" he demanded, searching Margaery's face desperately for some hint that she's teasing him like usual. She doesn't seem happy to poke fun at him like she usually does, though; Margaery Tyrell reaches one delicate hand up to pat his cheek.

"Dear, sweet Robb," she sighs, her slender fingers cool and soft as they rested against his skin. "I know you don't want to see it, but Daenerys seems quite taken with your cousin. And _he _looks at her just the same as you do—like she's hung the moon."

Her hand falls from Robb's face, and he feels cold. Margaery's not just japing with him anymore, she's being serious, but she can't be right, can she? Jon would have said something, he and Robb tell each other everything.

Only… suddenly, Jon leaving things behind in the common room, or running out of things to say as soon as they approach Daenerys, doesn't feel like such a coincidence anymore. It feels like maybe it means something, but Robb won't be satisfied until he asks his cousin about it himself.

"There's nothing to brood about," Robb grumbles at Margaery, turning on his heel to leave her behind.

"If you say so," she replies, and he can practically feel the judgment in her tone. Like she thinks he's some poor sap, deep in denial. "When you're ready to see it for yourself, though, don't forget that you'll be at _least _as handsome as your cousin when brooding. Maybe even more so," she teases, taking the opportunity to squeeze past him and be the one to walk away first.

Robb rolls his eyes at her retreating form, then heads back to Gryffindor tower, wondering what the hell he's going to say to Jon later when he sees him.

* * *

In the end, Robb takes the direct approach.

"So Margaery said something weird to me earlier." The words practically burst out of his mouth the second Sansa has retreated up into the girl's dormitories, before Jon has a chance to leave, too.

"From all the griping you do about her, that hardly seems like something new," Jon chuckles lightly, although Robb thinks he might look _nervous _. He can't imagine why, though; Robb's had hours to think about it, and Margaery's rare flash of earnestness is long forgotten. Maybe she thought she was helping, but she was way off base. Jon would laugh about what Margaery had said, scoff at the idea that there would ever be anything between him and Daenerys, and that would be that.

Only… Robb recounts it for him, paraphrasing a little to make it sound even more ridiculous, to get a bigger reaction out of his cousin. He claims Margaery had asked if he was going to turn into the broody one when Jon and Dany got together, and how Margaery said it was so _obvious _. He tells Jon everything, aside from Margaery's quips about him being handsome—those, Robb decides, he can keep just for himself.

He waits for the laughter, or even for Jon to shrug it all off as ridiculous in that dismissive way he has sometimes. Jon doesn't, though. He seems tense as he jerks his head to look into the fire, and his voice is almost far away as he says, "Of course we're not going to get together. I'd never do that to you, mate."

It's not the dismissal Robb had wanted. He knows he _acts _like an idiot sometimes, but he's not one, and even _he _can read between the lines.

Jon's not saying he _doesn't _like Dany. All he's saying is that he knows nothing can happen, because Robb liked her first.

Robb claps a hand on Jon's shoulder and squeezes it, feigning ignorance. "Can't wait to tell Marg just how wrong she was," he chuckles as he heads up to bed, leaving Jon to stare into the fire on his own a while longer.

He doesn't go to sleep, though. Robb lays flat on his four-poster bed, staring at the red and gold adornments above him, and curses the fact that Margaery's right.

Jon and Robb like the same girl, and he has _no bloody idea _what he's supposed to do about it.

* * *

While Robb's at a loss for ideas, though, it's Margaery that seems to have plenty of them.

Robb had gone to bed swearing he'd never let her know she was right, but that was before he'd spent a sleepless night thinking about it. Jon never liked _anybody _. He kept to himself and to his family, always the quieter one of them, always content to stay in the background while his Stark cousins did what they could to shine.

Jon never _asks _for anything, and Robb knows he's not asking for Dany, but… He also can tell now that he _wants _her, and for as much as he and Theon joked about having dibs on different girls and the like, it feels _wrong _. He's laid some kind of claim on Daenerys when he's hardly even gotten to know her; he just admires from afar, and expects that the people around him can't have her because he wants her.

He needs someone's advice, and Margaery's the first person that he thinks to ask for it. He can't wait until their next potions class, either; that's days away, and patience has never been one of his strong suits.

"Come to tell me I'm right?" Margaery asks, batting her eyelashes at him, when he tracks her down sitting down at the edge of the Black Lake the next afternoon. He'd expected to find her surrounded by the usual gaggle of girls from potions class, but she's all alone, Charms text book in her lap, quill in hand until he sits down next to her and she closes it inside to keep her place.

"Ugh, don't make me regret deciding to talk to you about this," Robb groans, running a hand through his auburn hair and tugging on the ends of it. He's a sleepless mess, and he doesn't want her to be smug about this. He just wants her to tell him what to do, because he can't seem to figure it out for himself.

"Talking to you is delightful, too," Margaery teases in that lilting voice of hers, and he shakes his head at her. Maybe he should _appreciate _the fact that she's making light of this situation; Robb himself is taking it entirely too seriously, and maybe he and Margaery can meet in the middle at an appropriate level of seriousness.

"I told Jon what you said, and he didn't say that he didn't like her, or that you were crazy, or _any _of that! All he said was that he'd never get together with her because he wouldn't do that to me," Robb sighs, running his hand anxiously through his hair again. Margaery lightly smacks his hand away from his head, smoothing out his auburn curls before folding her hands primly back in her lap.

"You'll make everyone on the grounds a nervous wreck if you keep that up," she scolds him, then her face turns contemplative. Margaery's really only been talking to Robb for about a month and a half now, but when she looks at him the way she's looking now, it rankles him. It's that look like she knows exactly what he's thinking, the same one she always gets before she teases him about some emotion that he's apparently wearing on his sleeve.

"You just don't want to be distracted by how devastatingly handsome I am with my hair pushed back," Robb tries to quip in response. A deflection, but it falls flat, because his heart's not in the joking. His heart's back in the castle, with Jon, the cousin who he's maybe sort of been overshadowing ever since Jon's mum had died and he'd come to live with his uncle Ned. Robb's life has been so _golden _compared to Jon, and while he wouldn't say he's had things _handed _to him, Robb's never had much trouble _earning _them, either. Jon's worked harder for the things that he has, and he wants _less _than Robb does.

But Jon seems to want this, whether he'll admit it or not. Robb just needs to find a way to remove himself from the equation, and his voice grows more and more frantic as he explains this to Margaery.

Daenerys Targaryen is beautiful, and she fascinates him, and she makes Robb's face go all red whenever she talks to him. She's a challenge, but she's not worth it, not if pursuing her for real was going to be another disappointment that Jon didn't deserve.

_Damn you, Professor Martell _, Robb thinks idly. If the man hadn't assigned them as potions partners, this probably never would have happened, and Robb wouldn't be scrambling for a way to delete the last year and some of crushing on the girl for Jon's sake.

Margaery twirls her long brown hair as she silently thinks on it, biting back a smile as Robb rambles incessantly to fill the void. Each of his proposals is more preposterous and illegal than the last—memory charms, Time Turners, Polyjuice Potion for who knows what. In the end, though, it's not a magical solution that Robb settles upon.

"You'll just have to get a girlfriend. Convince Jon you're really over Daenerys, so he won't hold himself back from going for it," Margaery muses. "You'll have to be quite serious about her, though; you went on a few casual dates with Roslin over the summer, didn't you? And that didn't seem to dampen your enthusiasm for Dany in the slightest."

Margaery's nose turns up as she says it, and he wonders what about all of that she found distasteful. It's not as though her taste in guys qualifies her to judge who Robb's interested in, after all; she'd dated that prick Joffrey Baratheon all last year, it was part of why he'd assumed she'd be so awful.

"How very Slytherin of you, to suggest I use some poor girl and break her heart just so Jon can be happy," Robb replies, folding his arm over his chest. The idea doesn't hold much merit, as far as he's concerned; at least, not until Margaery amends it.

"I'm _cunning _, not cruel. Don't feign affections for some girl who actually _likes _you, Robb. If you're going to be using someone, you should find someone who's more than happy to use you back," she points out, and it still sounds _stupid _to Robb, but… maybe not nearly so stupid as he'd initially thought.

Find a girl to play the part, go through the motions of dating her long enough for Jon to at least _try _to be something more with Daenerys… It'll suck to watch, but Robb _knows _that the girl's never paid him a fraction of the mind she's paid Jon. Making sure they get their shot is the right thing to do.

"Fine, maybe it's not an _awful _idea," Robb concedes, unfolding his arms and starting to pick at the grass underneath him instead. "But where am I supposed to find a girl who'll agree to fake-date me, just like that, genius?"

Margaery places her hand on top of his, stopping him from ripping up the grass. She doesn't seem to like Robb's nervous ticks, or the way he's so hopeless and mooning in class, just like he doesn't like that she's always poking fun at him and that she's _right _about this, and most other things, too.

But he kind of likes her company, anyway, and Robb kind of thinks she likes his, too. That's part of why he agrees to her plot _instantly _when she tells him that the girl he's looking for, the one who'll be his fake girlfriend, is sitting right next to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Let me start by saying I am SO sorry this took a million and a half years to get posted. I realized that a lot of my writer's block was coming from trying to cram too many events into one chapter, so I've decided to split this story up into more parts and just write things in smaller chunks. Hopefully you'll never have to wait more than a month for an update again!

* * *

When Robb wakes up the next day, he realizes he has _no _bloody clue how fake dating is supposed to work. He's not even really sure how _real _dating works in a castle where you can't leave but once a month; it's not as though you can take someone out and show them off, or even go anywhere to buy them things.

There's more to it than that, sure, but Robb's never liked anyone enough to find out what that _more _is. Well… no one except Daenerys Targaryen, and obviously _that _can't happen now that Jon likes her and she seems to like Jon.

Margaery, fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, seems to know _exactly _how to handle their brand new situation. She swoops over to him at breakfast, where he's squished into the Gryffindor breakfast table near Jon, Arya, and a couple of other returning members of the Quidditch team.

"Darling! Good morning," she exclaims as she looks at the lack of seats and chooses to drape herself over his lap instead. She presses an enthusiastic kiss to his cheek, and the action is so unexpected that Robb feels the skin under her lips tingle slightly.

A dopey grin spreads over his face — she really _is _good at this, and there's an audience watching them so she can't even be smug about it for right now.

"Disgusting," he hears Arya mutter as he wraps an arm around Margaery's waist to help keep her balanced as she reaches daintily for a muffin. Robb does the same, because it's a little hard to use silverware when there's a pretty girl perched on top of you, but he can live without the finer breakfast foods for a day without grumbling _too _much about it.

It's hard to grumble when he sees the puzzled look in Jon's eyes and realizes that their plan is already working, after all.

* * *

It's a bit surprising to Robb, the way that Margaery seamlessly blends herself into their breakfast conversation. Jon and Arya are bickering about what Quidditch team will sweep the league this year, and she chimes in with a surprising amount of confidence. Robb never thought about her knowing her Quidditch before, but she _does _have three older brothers; maybe he _should _have considered it.

Arya complains about getting detention for being rubbish at Transfiguration, and Margaery has a wicked smile on her face as she tells her that she didn't much like transfiguration, _either _, until she'd realized how fun it could be to change her ex-boyfriend Joffrey Baratheon into a ferret someday. That had gotten Arya's attention, and suddenly she seemed to find Margaery more interesting and less disgusting than she did a few minutes ago.

His family seems to _like _this fake girlfriend of Robb's, and everything's going smoothly until Dickon Tarly stands up from the seat next to Jon, and Sansa slides into it, having come down late for her meal.

"Oh!" she squeals excitedly when she notices Margaery on Robb's lap. "I _knew _you were only complaining about her so much because you liked her! Oh my gosh, Robb, when did this happen?"

Robb blanches at the question. He'd thought he'd just need to show up, act like a doting fake-boyfriend, and that would be that. He hadn't considered that they might need to have an entire imaginary backstory so that the people around them would be satisfied with their coupling.

Margaery, however, doesn't miss a beat. She wiggles on Robb's lap in a way that makes him have to grit his teeth and think about something else entirely, turning to face Sansa directly. He can only imagine that she's got some dreamy, far-off look in her eyes, because that's how her voice sounds when she starts speaking.

"Oh, it was just _magical _. He found me by the lake yesterday — he's been doing that more and more lately, you know, only talking to me in potions class just wasn't enough for him anymore! And he admitted he simply couldn't stop thinking about me, and how I'd really just gotten inside of his head," she doted, her voice like a song as she turned back to Robb. She placed a delicate hand on his chest, saying, "I rather think he meant his _heart _, but I'm just _ever _so happy he's gained some sense and stopped pining for the wrong person when the right one was there all along."

Robb has to hand it to her; most of what she's said isn't even a _lie _. Just half-truths; he had been finding her outside of class, but it had been to talk about Jon and Daenerys. She _had _gotten inside of his head, but only because she'd pointed out the obvious connection between his cousin and his crush that he'd been too stubborn to see, and he hadn't been able to stop mulling it over. The last bit's an exaggeration, but it seems to make Sansa happy, and his sister sighs and says, "Who knew Robb could be so romantic?"

While the others are looking at Sansa like she's grown a second head, Margaery winks at him, and Robb thinks that maybe this plan _isn't _just to help Jon out. Maybe he and Margaery can really have some fun with this, after all.

* * *

Robb expects Margaery to leave and go back to the Slytherin table long before the meal is through, but instead, she lingers with him until it's done. It's only when they stand up and he's about to offer to walk her back to her common room that her usual gaggle of giggling girls arrive, whisking her away swiftly — though not so quick that she can't press a kiss to Robb's cheek before she flounces away with them, taking her spot at the head of the group like she always does.

"You've got lipstick on your cheek, you wanker," Theon laughs as he passes by, smacking Robb lightly on the cheek. Robb rubs at it, but the tingling sensation there lasts even as he does an about face and drifts towards the Quidditch pitch, where he and the team have morning practice.

Practice goes decently, although at one point Arya, who's a bloody _Seeker _, catches the Quaffle and whizzes it right past Robb's head as he guards the goalposts.

"Stop daydreaming about your girlfriend and get your head in the game!" his little sister shouts at him, and Robb rolls his eyes.

"I'm not thinking about Margaery, you're just not supposed to have the Quaffle! Is that even legal?" He bets Daenerys would know. It's the first time he's thought about the strikingly beautiful Slytherin girl in a few hours, but she's captain of a rival team, of course it makes sense to think of her now. Robb knows he should be working on banishing thoughts of her from his head, if his plan's going to work and he's going to recall his dibs in order to give Jon a shot with her. Still… then he really _does _go a little bit dopey, losing his concentration and nearly getting hit by a Bludger that Dickon Tarly sends whizzing by.

Practice wraps up, and Jon's the last one out of the showers. The rest of the team has dispersed, but Robb's still wrapped in his towel, sitting on a bench in the locker room and studying some of the plays they'd been running. It went well enough, but that was playing against each other — their opponents will be tough, and he's thinking of reworking some of them to make them even better when he can sense his cousin hovering behind him, like he wants to say something to Robb but doesn't quite know how.

Jon gets like this sometimes; it's nothing unusual. Most days they can joke around and take the piss out of each other, but when Robb has something on his mind, he moans about it often and loudly, making sure the whole family knows about his minor inconvenience. Jon's not like that; he keeps things to himself, he mulls them over, he overthinks them — or he _broods _, as Margaery likes to say. He's brooding now, and Robb turns to him with an amused look in his eyes.

"Spit it out, then," he says, as Jon rakes his bottom lip between his teeth then ignores Robb's invitation to speak. He heads to his locker instead, swinging it open to find his regular clothes, and Robb is just burying his head in his playbook again when Jon finally seems to find his voice.

"I thought you liked Dany," Jon finally says, and Robb waits, to see if there's a question that goes with it or if that's all Jon's going to say. Nothing else follows it, though, so Robb prompts, "And?"

"And now you're dating Margaery? You've been interested in Dany for ages, and now you just… forgot about it?" Jon sounds skeptical, and Robb surprises himself by thinking, _what would Margaery do _, if she were the one in this situation.

Everyone else has taken their relationship at such face value so far, has just easily believed that Robb would bounce from being interested in one pretty girl to being interested in another. Robb would almost be offended by it, if he weren't so worried that Jon was about to expose them for the frauds that they were.

"The heart wants what it wants," Robb grins, shrugging his shoulders as if it's the simplest explanation in the world. He thinks Margaery would be proud — he thinks he's coming across as smitten but mysterious at the same time, answering the question without _over-answering _it, and he looks at Jon expectantly, to see if he buys it.

Only Jon's being slow about getting dressed, like he doesn't want to meet Robb's eyes, so all he's met with is outline of his cousin's back as he buttons up the clean shirt he's putting on.

"Like it _wanted _Roslin, until you realized you still liked Dany more?" The nickname keeps rolling off of Jon's tongue, so casual, so like someone who's intimately acquainted with the girl that Robb's mostly only admired from afar.

And that's when it clicks. Jon _isn't _on to the fact that his relationship's a sham — he seems worried to get too attached to Daenerys, only to have Robb toss Margaery to the side and announce that it's still been the stunning blonde Slytherin who's had his heart after all.

He can't wait to tell Margaery that _he's _the brilliant one for a change, figuring out a matter of the heart all on his own without her help.

"Nah, mate, it's not the same. Margaery's — she's really something, you know? She might even be the one."

It's the kind of over-the-moon thing he hears guys say in the locker room all the time, the statement of a lovesick teen, and Robb thinks that he's nailed this. Jon seems satisfied with his answer, and he'll never have to know that Robb's just selling an act, that he never really believed he had some connection with Margaery that at all.

"Well, congrats are in order then, I guess," Jon says, finally dressed. He claps a hand on Robb's shoulder, and Robb grins up at him. He hopes he looks like someone who's happily in love — feeling smug that his plan is working has to be the same general kind of facial expression, right?

"Absolutely! I only hope Daenerys isn't too heartbroken when she learns she missed her shot. I really hope she finds someone else — you know, who'll be as crazy about her as I am about Marg," Robb hams, stopping himself just short of shooting Jon a wink.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's devastated, mate," Jon chuckles, shaking his head at Robb as he heads back up to the castle and leaves him with his playbook.

* * *

The rest of the day, Robb was always peering around the hallways of the castle, looking for Margaery. On his way in to lunch, he tried to spot her; on his way to the library to work on a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, he was trying to spot her, he even craned his neck to try and see down a dungeon hallway when he went to meet Theon for a game of Exploding Snap.

"You're a bit pathetic, aren't you?" Theon chuckled, although there was something in his smile that made Robb think his jabs weren't meant in earnest. He seemed more amused than appalled, not like Arya with her fake gagging anytime someone — usually Sansa — tossed the word _love _around.

"It's okay, mate, I'll let you being all lovesick slide. Isn't that what we all want, anyway? A beautiful girl to look at us like we made the sun shine just for him?"

Robb blushes a little at that, because it's so ridiculous. The idea of him and Margaery Tyrell being that compatible, that she'd sit around like some simpering idiot thinking about him, and like he couldn't go five minutes without thinking of her?

But it was working, and he brushed Theon's comment off, saying, "Oh, what do you know about it, anyway?" as they headed towards the Great Hall to get a game in before dinner.

* * *

Margaery didn't turn up at dinner, either, and Robb was getting impatient, trying to find her. After dinner, he sat in the Gryffindor Common Room as Sansa and Jon played Wizard's Chess, scribbling on pieces of parchment, planning to send her a bloody _owl _if he had to. Owls could find the Slytherin Common Room in the dead of night, couldn't they? It felt like a good enough plan to Robb as he tried to write down his conversation with Jon earlier so that he could tell his fake-girlfriend just how brilliant the two of them were.

Only he couldn't capture just how _smart _he'd felt in that moment in words, and Robb kept tossing bits of parchment into the fire and starting over. Sansa looked up after a while, giggling at her brother's frustration.

"Are you trying to write Margaery a love letter? Oh, or are you writing a _poem _about her? I want to read!" Sansa gushes, because _of course _Sansa, with her soft romantic heart, would assume that Robb's just pining for a girl he saw at breakfast this morning.

"Shuddup," Robb protests, as Sansa flashes him puppy-dog eyes and begs to see. Instead, Robb tosses another piece of parchment into the fire and calls it a night, heading up to his dorm.

As he goes, he thinks he hears Sansa saying something about how _wonderful _it is that Robb's happy now, too, drift his way, but he closes the door behind him instead of lingering to find out what she's on about.

* * *

When Robb does finally find Margaery again, he's stumbling into the Great Hall for a late lunch after Arya's spent half the morning practicing hexes on him, and he almost misses his fake girlfriend, standing just outside of the entrance. She's not with her normal group of girls — the reason she slips past Robb's gaze is because she's standing with _Sansa _, giggling and gossiping like she always is, just with different company.

"There you are, darling," Margaery coos while Robb catches his breath, and she reaches out to take his hand, drawing him closer to her and his sister. "Sansa was just telling me all about your attempts to write me _poetry _last night, aren't you wonderful?"

The way she's gazing at him fondly, he almost forgets that it's fake for a second — that she doesn't _really _adore him, she's just acting. But then he does remember, and he has things he wants to talk to her about that his sister can't hear.

"Go away, Sansa," he grumbles, and his sister pouts at him.

"Oh, don't be like that! She thinks it's cute," Sansa protests, misreading his reasons for wanting her gone.

"She thinks _I'm _cute, and if you don't go away I'm going to start snogging her in front of you, even _you _don't love love enough to watch that," Robb declares, and Sansa lets out a noise that he can only describe as a squeal.

"She's right, boyfriend Robb _is _cute! You two have fun," Sansa calls happily as she heads down the hallway, off in the direction of the library, he's sure.

"Well that was lucky, I'm sure you would have _quite _hated it if you'd had to actually snog me in front of her," Margaery teases, not dropping his hand. It makes sense — people are still watching them, they'll expect a fledgling couple to be all over each other every chance they get, and Robb uses their linked hands as a way to tug her off towards somewhere private, his lunch completely forgotten.

* * *

By the time they're back on the bank of the lake, Robb finally drops her hand, only to wrap his arm around her instead. There are still people walking the grounds, he reasons — it's one of the last days where it'll be nice enough to be outside, and just because their classmates are too far away to hear doesn't mean they can't still _see _them. Margaery hums happily as she leans into his side.

"You've gotten quite good at this since yesterday," she teases him, and his chest swells with pride. She'd probably thought she was going to have to do all of the work, convincing people this was real between them, but Robb's not a total slack-off. He can do this, for Jon's sake if nothing else.

"If you think _that's _good, wait until you hear about my conversation with Jon. _That _was what I was trying to write to you about yesterday, it's not like I was sitting around waxing poetic about how your eyes are as brown as… I don't know, a chocolate frog or something."

Margaery laughs that melodic laugh of hers, saying, "Good thing, that. If your poetry was comparing my eyes to frogs of any sort, I'm not sure I'd have appreciated it very much. We'll have to find you some better metaphors, before you start writing a girl poetry for real."

"I'd write a _great _poem if I was trying!" Robb scoffs, feigning offense at her words. She may be his fake girlfriend now, but she's still Margaery Tyrell, still sometimes too annoying for words, and he can't let her be all smug, thinking he's _bad _at something.

"I'll look forward to it, then. If you manage to write one for me, I'll draw hearts all over it and frame it where Daenerys Targaryen can see it and realize what she's missed out on," Margaery informs him, matter-of-factly. The mention of Dany snaps Robb back to attention, and he shakes his head.

"Only if you tell her Jon wrote it _for _me," Robb reminds her, and Margaery nods her head solemnly.

"Oh yes, of course. It's much more believable that her handsome, brooding Potions partner would write poetry anyway," she agrees.

"Her handsome, brooding _future_ _boyfriend_, don't you mean?" Robb corrects, then belatedly pouts, "And _I'm_ supposed to be the handsome one, how _ever_ will our fake relationship work if you're talking about my cousin like that?"

His feelings aren't _really _hurt, of course; Robb doesn't care if Margaery thinks he's the more handsome one or not. But he _has _already lost one girl he was interested in to Jon. Margaery could at least coddle him and let him think she's on his side.

"Of _course _, most handsome of all sixth year boys," Margaery laughs, leaning her head to rest on his shoulder as her brother Loras waves at her from across the lake. He's on the arm of some brunette boy, and Robb doesn't remember hearing that Loras was dating someone, but good for him.

"Handsome _and _brilliant, can't forget that," Robb says smugly. He's been brimming with excitement about his talk with Jon since _yesterday _, and he finally starts telling Margaery all about it, how Jon seemed to want to know more about their relationship to feel out if Robb was really over Daenerys, and especially focusing on how he'd hinted to Jon at the end that Daenerys deserved to be happy with someone who appreciated her the way Robb appreciated Margaery.

"Brilliant indeed," Margaery chimes, and he can't tell if she's serious or sarcastic, but for his own sake, Robb chooses to believe she's serious.

"They'll be together in no time, and then you won't have to keep cuddling up to me in your free time, isn't that great?" Robb asks, and he swears Margaery tenses slightly next to him.

"Well, we can't break up _immediately _after the two of them pair up, that'll be too obvious," Margaery informs him. And it makes sense, it does, but then she keeps going, gazing across the lake to where her brother and his beau are now kissing as she admits, "Besides that's not the _only _reason we're fake dating."

"That's news to me," Robb says, his eyebrows arched in surprise. Margaery uses the arm that's _not _tucked to his side to smack him lightly in the chest.

"As noble as it is that you want to take yourself out of the picture for the sake of your cousin's love life, I need something out of this relationship, too. I won't hold you hostage forever, of course, but well — even if Jon and Daenerys were to fall in love tomorrow, I'd hope you'd give this a bit more time for my sake," Margaery admits, and he thinks it might be the most sincere she's ever sounded. Normally they're all teasing and games, but not now, and Robb feels like an asshole, for not even _asking _before what she was getting out of this.

"Well, I guess you're not _awful _to be around," Robb jokes, trying to turn things light again. It falls flat, though, so he turns to look at her curiously. The softness in his own voice surprises him as he asks, "Why _did _you want to do this, anyway? I'm sorry I never asked."

Margaery sighs. "I'm not sure if you realize this, but my breakup with Joffrey was a bit _humiliating _. He was never particularly kind to me, but we were together for status, I supposed, and I thought that maybe… well, I thought with time he'd learn to treat me a bit better. And then he broke up with me, quite _loudly _, in front of the whole Great Hall last year."

Robb remembers hearing about it. He hadn't been there, that day, but Sansa had been _horrified _on Margaery's behalf, thinking that chivalry was dead and that true love was a lie if two people who she'd believed to be the most solid of couples had crashed and burned in such a public manner. He'd brushed it off at the time, but now he actually _knew _Margaery, and he could imagine how that must not have been very fun for her.

"So you want me to… make him jealous, or something?" Robb asks, not quite getting her logic, and she picks her head back up off his shoulder so that she can shake it in disagreement.

"No, no, nothing like that. I've gotten _that _out of my system already, by dating his uncle Renly over summer holiday," Margaery informs him, and Robb thinks he vaguely remembers that, too. Renly Baratheon's always seemed like a nice bloke, good-spirited whenever Robb's talked to him, and he and Margaery were in _The Daily Prophet _a couple of times over summer, photographed in the gossip columns that Sansa loves to read.

"So…" Robb tries again, still not quite following. "You're dating me to prove that your type's more than just _Baratheons _?"

Margaery huffs lightly at that, but Robb swears she's fighting back a laugh more than anything. "There aren't many more Baratheons to choose from, thank you very much, although Myrcella _is _beautiful, it's a shame I didn't flirt with her in the first place," Margaery deadpans, and Robb agrees.

"I'd date her," he says, and receives another playful smack for it.

"Don't let other people hear you say that, they'll think my fake-boyfriend's looking to step out on me already," Margaery scolds him, but she sounds a little bit less burdened now, even if Robb still doesn't understand.

"So what was wrong with Renly?" Robb asks her, and she gestures across the lake, where her brother is still getting intimately acquainted with his companion.

"_ That's _what's wrong with Renly. He wasn't actually interested in me, he just wanted to spend more time with Loras. He came out at the end of summer, and well — there he is, see for yourself."

_Oh _. So _that's _who the indistinguishable brunette with Loras is, and Robb feels a surge of protectiveness towards Margaery, wanting to keep her from having any more jerks using her.

"It's not that I was that attached to him, you know, we were very surface level — I _was _trying to be spiteful towards Joff, truth be told. But it's still… embarrassing. First to have a long relationship end the way it did, then to have someone I was spotted with so publically choose my brother over me. I'm very happy for him, but… well, maybe you can relate just the teensiest, tiniest bit?"

He thinks of Jon and Daenerys then, how he hardly even knows the girl but he's admired her and wanted her to admire him back. He spent all that time hoping, thinking that maybe he'd catch her eye, and then for it to be his cousin instead… It _did _feel lousy, when he thought on it too long, and Robb presses a kiss to Margaery's hair, hoping that Loras and Renly have seen.

"I promise you and I can have the world's _least _embarrassing breakup, when you're good and ready," he promises, and Margaery smiles warmly at him, a _real _smile instead of the teasing twitch of her lips he usually gets.

They linger there a while longer, Robb's arm wrapped tightly around her, before finally heading back up into the castle.


	3. Chapter 3

It's their next potions class, and once again, Robb can't keep his eyes off of Daenerys and Jon.

This time, though, it's not because he's _pining _, or because he's annoyed that his cousin's getting to spend so much time with his crush. He's just curious, really, to see if Jon's behavior will change at all now that Robb's done everything in his power to remove himself from the equation and give Jon the all-clear to pursue his feelings.

"Robb, dear," Margaery scolds him, tapping her fingernails on their desk until he turns his head towards her instead.

"Huh?" Robb asks her, distracted. He hasn't forgotten she's there, the way he had those first weeks when they'd been forced to work together; he'd just expected her to be watching Jon and Dany, too, waiting for some sign that their schemes were starting to work.

"It's rude to stare at people," she teases him, rolling her eyes in a way that he's come to recognize is more fond than actually annoyed.

"But I have to see if Jon makes his move," Robb points out, leaning his head closer to hers so that they can't be overheard. It's perfect for their ruse anyway, the scooting closer together, the talking in low whispers. He can't see them from the outside, but he's sure if he could, they'd _look _like the couple they're supposed to be.

"I'm sure you can look away for a few minutes to work on our assignment," Margaery tuts as she starts chopping one of the assorted roots on the table beside them. "It's not as though these things happen instantly, anyway."

Robb blinks in confusion, because he hadn't _considered _that. He'd assumed that he would pretend to like someone else, that Jon and Dany would just magically fall together, and that his work here would be done.

Margaery can tell he's puzzled by her words, and fixes with him a pointed glare. "You liked her for _how _long without asking her out? I don't know why you expect Jon will do it within one _day _," she informs him, and Robb lets out a groan as he runs a hand through his mess of curls.

"Merlin, I didn't think of _that _. If he's as bad as me, we're going to be fake dating through graduation," he says, although idly, he thinks it's odd to hear Margaery talking about his crush on Dany in the past tense. _Liked _. As if his feelings have just magically gone away overnight.

They haven't, Robb doesn't think. They're still there, lingering, but his love for Jon is far greater than his infatuation for Daenerys could ever be. He'll just have to start thinking of the whole situation as confidently as Margaery does; then maybe he can convince himself that it all meant nothing, and that seeing Jon and Dany together when this is all through won't be _hard _.

Margaery giggles at his dramatics, tossing her perfectly even ingredient to the cauldron as she pushes some root or another to him to chop.

When she laughs like that, and distracts him, at least Robb feels like it's all a little easier.

"While that wouldn't be the _most _horrible thing in the word, I'm sure we can find some way to speed things along," she assures him, and then they start working on their potion in earnest, Jon and Dany in the back of his mind for the rest of the class period.

* * *

Robb's gotten quite used to seeing Margaery outside of classes now, too; they make a point to do their homework together in the library some afternoons, so that people can _see _them and remember they're together. He goes over to the Slytherin table and eats with Theon sometimes, and Margaery's always quick to leave her gaggle of friends to come down and sit by (or often _on _) him instead. They go for strolls around the lake, or play gobstones in the courtyard, and more often than not, she finds herself with him and his siblings over at the Gryffindor table instead.

The more days go past without spotting Jon and Daenerys together, though, the more often Margaery and Robb find ways to sneak off on their own, somewhere private where they can't be heard. It sort of defeats the purpose of fake dating a little bit, to be tucked into corners where no one can see them or in empty classrooms where no one's watching, but it's fine.

They're _scheming _. And he quite _likes _Margaery Tyrell at this point, too; Robb hopes that when their schemes have worked and they no longer have to pretend like this, they'll find an excuse to still be friends. Not all couples hate each other after a breakup, right? Margaery's almost obnoxiously brilliant, he's sure she'll find some excuse for them to still be amicable.

One particular afternoon, they're inside of an unused greenhouse, because Margaery says she likes the flowers that are growing in this one. He wouldn't have imagined her as the sort of person who comes and spends time alone in the greenhouses, but he supposes he's learning lots of things about her now that he wouldn't have guessed before.

In a greenhouse full of flowers, though, with their heads bent together trying to figure out how to nudge Jon and Dany together faster, Robb finds that the nicest smelling thing is still Margaery and that floral scent that's always clinging gently to her whenever he's close enough by to notice.

"Robb, your ideas are ridiculous," Margaery tells him when he proposes that they curse Daenerys's broom and have it fly her right into Jon's arms at the next Quidditch match. He's proposed all number of useless suggestions like this one, but Margaery's barely hiding a smile at worst and giggling at them at best, so Robb doesn't plan on suggesting anything more genuinely helpful anytime soon.

"Ridiculous? No way, this one's fool proof! I mean, sure, I feel like Daenerys is the kind of girl who'd rather be saving _Jon _than the other way around, but… we can't fly him off the pitch during a Gryffindor game, my team needs him!"

Robb waits to see if he gets a laugh or a smile for that, but instead, Margaery has a thoughtful look. "That's coming up soon, isn't it? Your first match of the season?"

"Wait, are you actually considering this?" Robb asks, disbelieving, and Margaery quickly shakes her head, her hair fanning around her shoulders in soft waves as she does.

"Of course not, we'll think of something else," Margaery says, "But I'll need to borrow something of yours for the game. A scarf, a tie — I wouldn't be a very good girlfriend if I weren't dressed up supporting you, now would I?"

Robb grins, because Merlin, she really does think of everything, doesn't she? He wouldn't have even considered wanting her to dress up in Gryffindor garb to cheer for him against Ravenclaw, but now that he _is _, he can picture it all too easily. Her long neck kept warm by a red and gold scarf around it, one of Sansa's red and gold headbands keeping her brown hair from blowing into her face, maybe even holding up a banner with a direwolf on it in his honor. That only makes his smile _grow _; even if it's not real, the idea of her out there supporting him makes his face feel warm.

"Whatever you want, you've got it. Good thing you're not on the team, though; nothing in the world could make me wear Slytherin colors," he teases, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Not even Daenerys?" Margaery asks, and he wonders if the answer would have been yes, before all this started and he'd had to temper his feelings for his rival captain.

"Not even for Daenerys," Robb agrees, then wrinkles his nose. "And let's bloody hope _Jon _doesn't start wearing Slytherin colors for her when this all works, either; I can't have a traitor on my team!"

Margaery bumps his shoulder lightly, then they resume their plotting, trying to find an actual _viable _plan to nudge Jon and Dany together this time lest they be out here all day.

* * *

In the end, they stumble across their plan almost entirely by accident. They'd gone back to talking about Margaery's attire for the upcoming Quidditch game, with Robb joking about how they could go to Hogsmeade and buy her a lion head to wear to really sell her support, and then suddenly Margaery snaps her fingers and tells him _that's it _.

All they have to do is frame it as a group hangout to get Jon and Daenerys spending time with each other outside of class, and what better place to have a not-date than Hogsmeade?

It's too obvious to just have Robb, Margaery, Dany, and Jon there; Jon will know it's a set up instantly, and he won't thank Robb for it. He usually spends Hogsmeade weekends with Theon, too, though, so they'll invite him along as well, and Sansa, who seems fonder of Margaery by the day now and would keep Theon from interrupting their matchmaking too much.

As they part ways, Robb tells Margaery to keep him posted on whether Daenerys agrees to hang out with them or not, and only then does their plan start to seem a little bit difficult. Margaery points out that she and Dany are _hardly _close, and it would seem wildly random if she invited her to hang out after years and years of _not _.

"But you have to," Robb protests, and Margaery shakes her head.

"It'll be less obvious coming from you, _trust me _," Margaery says, pressing a performative kiss to his cheek as they part ways and she heads towards the Slytherin common room, leaving him wondering how in the seven hells he's supposed to pull this off.

* * *

Asking Daenerys Targaryen to hang out is something that Robb's thought about for _ages _. When he imagined it, though, he always imagined himself doing something charming, or impressive, and that she'd fall for him on the spot, before they'd ever even gone anywhere or done anything together.

He supposes it should be easier now, when it's not his own feelings or pride at stake if she says no. She can't be a girl he wants to date anymore, after all; she's the girl Jon fancies, and if Robb wants Jon to be able to act on his feelings, then he can't be the way he's been for ages, mooning and nervous and tripping over himself at the sight of Dany.

Still, that sense of awe he feels every time he sees her doesn't just go away overnight. He passes her in the hall, the library, even on the way back to the castle from Quidditch practice, and he still hasn't gone up and just _talked _to her like he's promised Margaery he would.

His fake-girlfriend tuts in disapproval everytime she asks about his progress, too, and somehow, that's more annoying than his lingering crush could ever be.

"I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave," Margaery prods him. They've spent so much time together by now that she knows precisely how to get under his skin, and it's that final comment that pushes him past his limit.

"Being brave doesn't mean not being _scared _," Robb replies through gritted teeth, paraphrasing something his father had once told him, leaving out the bit where he's meant to actually _do _the thing he's afraid of. He _will _. Time before their Hogsmeade weekend is dwindling, and he can't let Margaery be _right _. She's so smug about it when she is, and the only way to wipe the smirk off of her face is to not _let _her be right.

And he owes this to Jon, besides.

"Forgive me, I must have forgotten how terrifying tiny blonde girls can be," Margaery quips, and Robb grumbles under his breath, "It'll be done before the next time I see you,"

Margaery narrows her eyes as if she doesn't believe him, but doesn't say whatever it is she wants to in response.

Robb doubts he would have wanted to hear it much anyway — Margaery's nearly always right, and she enjoys it entirely too much. He wants to be right this time, that he can just _do it _, so he decides after potions, he'll go and find Dany.

* * *

Robb's not _creepy _, he hopes, but he _has _admired Daenerys for a long time, so he's picked up on some of her habits. Like the fact that during her free period, she often goes down to the creature pens on the outskirts of the forest. He's heard her talk about how much she likes dragons, and though they aren't usually on campus, he imagines that maybe she wants to learn more about them, or maybe she just likes the other creatures, too.

Either way, he's never been so bold as to _follow _her out there before, and he spends the whole walk across the green trying to think of an excuse for being there. He still wants her to take him seriously, and not think ill of him. If all goes well, she'll be his cousin's girlfriend, after all — and if there's any lingering _other _reason he wants to seem completely normal to her, well, he'll forget it with time, he's sure.

By the time he's there, he hasn't thought of a good excuse to be here. Extra credit? He just likes the animals? Someone cast a spell on him that made him walk this direction? He's out of time, though; Dany _is _there, just like he'd guessed, watching a knarl scurry around a pen, and she glances up at the sound of his feet crunching against the grass.

"Hi, Robb," she says brightly, and he remembers not too long ago when such a simple greeting was enough to make his stomach swoop.

He won't call what happens now a swoop, but her smile _is _infectious, and he grins back at her. "Hullo," he echoes her sentiment, all pretense forgotten as he walks over to where she's standing, leaning against the fence.

"He seems like he's in a good mood; you must not have tried to feed him," Robb says, reminding himself mentally that he does _not _like Daenerys in that way anymore. There's no need to be nervous; he can talk to her like a regular person, just like she's anyone else.

"He's surprisingly more interesting when he's _not _savagely attacking people," Dany admits, then adds, "Well, most people anyway. I'm sure there's _some _who'd deserve to have him set on them."

"Too bad Joffrey's not around, I'd love to toss him a snack," Robb replies, his nose wrinkling at the thought of Margaery's shit ex-boyfriend. He's not particularly popular around the castle, and he's rewarded with a laugh from Daenerys.

She _does _have a lovely laugh; it's just as satisfying as amusing Margaery has come to be, and Robb's shocked to find it's almost effortless, too. He's not overthinking, he's not trying too hard, he's just… being himself. Dany isn't put out by his presence, she doesn't even _question _it, and Robb wonders if it would have been like this, before. If he'd just _talked _to her like anyone else when he'd still fancied himself head over heels for her, would it have been this easy?

"I'd love to see that, honestly. Think he'd actually come if we owled him?" There's something mischievous, almost a little dangerous twinkling in her eyes, and it still excites him, the way it always did from afar. The way he can never quite tell if she's joking or serious — she _has _always seemed willing to stand up for those who can't defend themselves. Maybe she _would _set a dangerous creature on Joffrey if he was here. Robb would hardly blame her. Maybe she just wants to scare him. Maybe she's only teasing after all.

He doesn't know her well enough to read the situation completely, but maybe if he hadn't been such a prat, he _could _have, by now. Maybe Jon would know, if he were the one here instead.

He's not, though; Jon's not taking _any _action for himself as far as Robb can tell, and that's why he's here, after all.

"Not sure _that _would work, but I'm sure we could find a thing or two to use on him at Zonko's this weekend," Robb segues, and it flows smoothly, the way he's always able to talk to Dany in his imagination but not so much when he actually sees her. He doesn't pause to revel in the fact that he's managed to bring up Hogsmeade without stumbling over the invitation; instead, he continues easily. "A few of us are going together — Margaery, Theon, my little sister Sansa, Jon. If you'd like to join us."

Dany's eyes don't look fiery and unpredictable and full of surprises anymore. They sparkle — Merlin, she's beautiful when they sparkle, but Robb can't afford to think that, because the _reason _they look like that is because he's mentioned Jon. She'd already been offering him a warm smile at the fact that he was offering at all, but he can read it on her face, that it's the mention of Jon that really has her sold.

"I'd love to," she agrees. "With such great minds combined, I'm sure we could really give that Joffrey a rotten day… or three."

She winks at him, and Robb has to remind himself that he's not the boy who's hung up on Daenerys Targaryen anymore. He's Margaery Tyrell's fake boyfriend, and he's a supportive cousin, and his legs _don't _feel like jelly because of Dany anymore.

"Brilliant! Meet us in the front corridor around 10 am on Saturday, then?" Dany nods, and then Robb gives her a wave, heading back towards the castle as if he'd just been out for a walk, and hadn't planned this at all.

He casts a glance over his shoulder, where Daenerys is still leaning against the fence, watching the creatures, her silver-blonde hair shining in the sun. For a second, he marvels at how _easy _that had been, at how she's just a person like anyone else, approachable and fun to talk to and not nearly as untouchable as she seems.

It's too late, though. Robb hadn't worked up the nerve when he might have had a chance, and he's past that, now.

Still, as he jerks his head back towards the castle and focuses on going to tell Margaery their plan has worked, he gives himself the briefest of moments to wallow.

What if he'd talked to her sooner? What if he'd gotten to know her, really and truly know her, before she'd been paired with Jon that fateful day in class? What if...?

_What if indeed _.


End file.
